The Truth of the Three Brothers
by Tallman7
Summary: A retelling of the Tale of Three Brothers that makes more sense than the one in canon involving a river and a childish, hissy-fit-throwing Death.


_**If you would like to use this modified version of the Tale of Three Brothers in your own fic, I only ask that you let me know first and credit me in the work.**_

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Once upon a time there were three brothers: the eldest, Antioch Peverell, the middle, Cadmus Peverell, and the youngest, Ignotus Peverell. These three brothers were special, for they could wield magic, and bend the world itself to their whims. They were bright, powerful, and innovative, especially the youngest.

But despite their great power, they were also human, and they suffered from one of the same weaknesses as other, more ordinary, men: the fear of Death.

For Antioch, his fear sprang from the death of his parents. They were murdered by a powerful lord when he was barely a man, and he was haunted by that as he raised his brothers alone.

For Cadmus, his fear sprang from the death of his beloved wife, who he had watched waste away from an incurable sickness, leaving his children motherless.

For Ignotus, his fear sprang from his brothers, who were all he had in his life, and who he dreaded losing above all else.

But the brothers had a plan. They knew they were powerful, and were known as masters at spell creation. One day, they devised a scheme by which they would defeat Death itself, and end their fear once and for all.

Though it took many years of careful study and numerous failed attempts, the brothers made progress. But when Death saw this, it grew worried, for Death is a fundamental and necessary part of life, and to interrupt it would throw the balance of nature into chaos. And so, Death resolved to stop the brothers before their scheme could come to fruition, and bring the world to ruin.

But Death is not omnipotent. Rules, lain down at the moment of creation, bind the powers of Death in very specific ways. The same is true for Fate, and Chance and Love, and all the others besides, but especially for Death. And so Death could not merely reach out a hand and destroy the brothers, but had to use other, less direct means of reaching its' goal.

And so Death created avatars, beings manifested of Death's will and imbued with its' power. These beings, harbingers of Death itself, were terrible to behold, for they drained the warmth and happiness out of all around them, and could usher a soul to the realm of Death directly, leaving the empty shell of their victim behind.

When the brothers learned of these beings, they grew panicked, and their research frenzied. As Death's avatars descended upon them, Antioch made a breakthrough. As his life flashed before his eyes, he pulled up memories of his parents: of the love they shared for one another, the kindness and care they showed their sons, and the happiness they felt when they were alive. With these memories of happiness, life, and Love, Antioch's magic manifested itself as a glowing guardian that chased away Death's avatars, and held them at bay.

More time passed, and the brothers continued on their quest to defeat Death, now constantly on their guard against Death's avatars. And as they made progress, Death grew more concerned. If the brothers could not be stopped by his avatars, Death would have no choice but to intervene directly, something that carries with it a great and terrible cost, one Death was loathe to pay.

So, Death watched, and discovered that the brothers could hold his avatars at bay only so long, and only so many at a time. Seeing this, Death created more avatars, and set them upon the brothers, seeking to overwhelm them with numbers.

When the brothers saw this, panic befell them once again. However, inspiration struck Cadmus as he thought of his wife, and his wish that he could have traded some of his life to her. Using that, he found a way to instill within his magic a portion of his own life force, and so empowered his guardian greatly. So strong was his protector that rather than just driving off Death's avatars, it destroyed them utterly. But the magic was not without a cost. Every time the spell was used, the user would age prematurely, hastening their journey towards Death.

Death, having felt the destruction of its avatars, now grew fearful. Such destruction of beings created with the power of Death weakened it, and for the first time it appeared as though the brothers would succeed in spite of the attempts made to stop them.

But Death was resourceful, and cunning. It resolved that if it could not defeat the brothers outright, it would defeat them with trickery. It would strike a bargain with the brothers, and use that to end them. Only if all else failed would it resolve to end them of its own volition, and pay the price such an act would incur, for it could not risk the youngest and brightest of the brothers making a breakthrough in the same way as the elder two.

When Death appeared before the brothers, they were at first fearful, but listened as Death spoke. They heard the offer Death made, and also heard the threat of what would befall them if they refused the bargain. Eventually, reluctantly, they accepted. In exchange for destroying their research and ending their search for a way to defeat Death, each would be given an artifact of their own choosing, one infused with the power of Death itself.

The eldest brother demanded a magical focus: a wand so powerful that no other could match it, a wand that could never be defeated in battle, and would actively protect its master from harm.

Death acceded to the request and fashioned a wand from a tree made of Elder. Fifteen inches long it was, with a core of thestral hair, adorned along its length with carvings of elderberries.

Wand in hand, the eldest brother went forth into the world and confronted the man that had long ago murdered his parents, a man he had never been able to match in combat. Backed by the power of Death, Antioch slew the lord and defiled his corpse, before going off to celebrate his long-awaited vengeance. At a nearby tavern, he bragged to all that would listen about his unbeatable wand, and his defeat of the lord. However, unbeknownst to him, the lord's son heard Antioch brag of killing his father, and grew wroth. After the eldest brother had drunk himself into a stupor and passed out, he stole the wand from Antioch and murdered him in his sleep. Thus did Death claim the first brother.

But the wand remained, and it would carve a bloody path through history, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake.

The middle brother, still filled with grief at the loss of his beloved, demanded a way for his love to be returned to him, whenever he wanted, for as long as he wanted, so long as he was master of his gift.

Again, Death acceded to the request and picked up an ordinary stone, which it infused with its power.

Stone in hand, the middle brother turned it over in his grip three times, and from the stone sprang forth the shade of his lost love. At first, he was happy, and grateful he had been reunited with her at last, but his joy was short-lived, for spirits are not meant to exist in this world, and being forced to do so causes them great pain. Unlike ghosts, which are merely echoes of those long gone, the stone called forth the true soul of the departed from beyond the Veil, which caused it anguish while in this world.

Cadmus, seeing the pain his love was in, but unable to bear the thought of being parted from her a second time, took the only course he could see: he chose death by his own hand, and so, was finally, truly reunited with his beloved. Thus did Death claim the second brother.

But the stone remained, and would be lost to the ages, reemerging only sporadically, bringing tears and grief in its wake.

The youngest brother, unlike the others, was more wary of Death's offer, and resolved not to fall into its trap. He demanded from Death a way to hide, to become unfindable to any that would do him harm or consider him an enemy so long as he was master of his prize… even if he was hiding from Death itself.

Again, with great reluctance and resignation, Death acceded to his request. From its own trappings, it fashioned a cloak of invisibility, one that would hide the wearer from anything, even Death itself.

Cloak upon his shoulders, Ignotus vanished from sight. Though it searched for many years, Death was never able to find the youngest brother, and would be greatly frustrated by the failure.

Finally, after many decades had passed, and he had lived a full and complete life, Ignotus removed the cloak from his shoulders, passed it to his son, and went forth to Death willingly, greeting it as an old friend. Thus did Death claim the third brother.

But the cloak remained, passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, parent to child, never leaving the descendants of Ignotus, though even they knew not what they held, only that it would hide them and protect them in their times of need.

Of the three brothers, nothing but dust and ashes remain. But their three artifacts, hard won from Death itself, still endure. Those three treasures, the Three Deathly Hallows, are to this day imbued with the power of Death, and though each individually is no match for Death itself, if combined, they would allow their master to exceed even the power of Death ever... so... slightly...


End file.
